The Death Of Adam: Essays On Modern Thought
By Marilynne Robinson
Mariner Books

“Then felt I like some watcher of the sky when a new planet swam into his ken.”
– John Keats

Yes, that has been my reaction to Marilynne Robinson’s collection of essays. This work was first published over ten years ago but has only recently received public acclaim because of Robinson’s highly successful novels. Her novel Giliad won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and her more recent parallel novel Home has received many favorable reviews.

These Essays On Modern Thought are deserving of similar attention, and more! Adherents of Reformed Christianity should be especially grateful that at last, among public intellectuals, we have a champion. Her essays on Calvin are both revealing and revolutionary. After generations of Calvin and Calvinism’s being denigrated and ridiculed, finally Calvin and even Calvinists are being carefully reread.

The Master Teacher: Sermons From Mark by Roy Sheldon MacKenzie Fairway Press A sermon is an oral/aural event that takes place in a specific time […]

There are more than 100 major biblical commentary series, some of which are far better than others. Below, I have compiled a list of my favourite series along with some evaluations for any of you out there thinking about delving a little deeper into your Bibles.

Just after Christmas, the violence of war was once again used in Gaza and Israel to try to bring about peace. Weaponry was used to stand up for good goals. Hamas wanted the economic restrictions of Gaza to be stopped so they launched rockets into civilian areas of Israel. The Israeli government had the goal of making sure their people could live in safety. So, they launched an offensive with their army in order to stop Hamas from being able to launch their rockets. As a result, before there was a ceasefire in mid-January, over one thousand Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. This war is just one example of why I believe that we need to find another way to handle the crises that happen in our world.

Brian McLaren in his book, Everything Must Change looks at how our world society functions based upon three interrelated systems. The Prosperity System is the way we build our wealth in order to live. Our Equity System helps us to distribute our wealth. The Security System seeks to protect us. McLaren believes that the dominant framework story which humans use to run these three systems is unsustainable, and ultimately suicidal.

The Bible: A Biography

Emerging from the Dark Age Ahead: The Future of the North American Church

Dear Mr. Cantelon,

This is a superb collection of 18 essays by Dr. Joseph C. McLelland. They span a half-century and cover a variety of topics grouped under three main headings: Theology and Ministry, Theology and the Reformed Tradition and Theology and Canadian Society. Most of the essays were written during McLelland's 50-year association with The Presbyterian College, Montreal, and his almost equally long association with McGill University where he occupied the J. W. McConnell Chair in Philosophy of Religion. A witty, lighter take on the history of The Presbyterian College entitled Adventures in P-C Land: A Saurian Testament has happily been included as an appendix. The essays are written in McLelland's lively, engaging style and are a delight to read.

These are tough times for Bible reading in the mainline Protestant church. A former colleague of mine once said there are basically two groups of people who read the Bible: those of us who make it say whatever they want, and those of us who make it say nothing at all.

“What does it take for a congregation truly to know change in its life?” This is a question being asked in many Presbyterian congregations today. The title of Peter Bush's new book, In Dying We Are Born, points to his answers. As he writes, “The congregation cannot give itself life, cannot make growth happen, and cannot stem the slide to death. The ability to do all of those things belongs to God alone … The church must therefore humble itself to the point of death, and then and only then will it find itself raised to life by the power of God.” In other words, faithful, meaningful and significant new life can be granted by God only to congregations willing to die to the way they have been.

Wendy Read was sexually abused by her father. The damage done by daddy dearest caught up to her, as it does with all victims. “The demands of life grow and eventually there is simply not enough energy to keep all the bad feelings, disappointments and memories under control.” Read had to deal with what happened. This book is a part of her process.

Reading Scripture Rightly God creates, accosts and sustains the church by means of Holy Scripture. by John Vissers Prophets in the Pulpit A collection of […]

The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson Multnomah Publishers Bruce Wilkinson's promotion of the prayer of Jabez does not sit well with me. I have […]

C. Stacey Woods and the Evangelical Rediscovery of the University,A. Donald MacLeod

Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality

Defining Work: Gender, Professional Work, and the Case of Rural Clergy by Muriel Mellow McGill-Queen's University Press “Location, location, location” matters not only in business; […]

My Red Couch, and Other Stories on Seeking a Feminist Faith Edited by Claire Bischoff and Rachel Gaffron The Pilgrim Press This title on the […]

The Hour of the Witch by Steve Wohlberg; Destiny Image The Gospel According to Harry Potter by Connie Neal; Westminster John Knox Press It has […]

Divided Heritage: The Presbyterian Contribution to the United Church of Canada by John Webster Grant; Gravelbooks. This is a marvelous book, a fitting final testament […]

Philip Jenkins should be read by anyone interested in the future of Christianity. In The Next Christendom, Jenkins called attention to the fact that the growth of the Church in the “global South” was a phenomenon that had been largely overlooked but which will have dramatic effects upon the future of our faith. “In our lifetimes,” he observes in the earlier book, “the centuries-long North Atlantic captivity of the church is drawing to an end.”